I think that beer should ony take 4 weeks at 1045 OG no ? I just did a APA 2 with 5oz of hops and at 1056 OG. Two weeks in the primary and two in the keg. Used dry yeast "US-05" rehydrated. Its perfect.

I brewed this for my first ever batch. The kit (liquid extract) had been sitting on top of my buddy's fridge for about a year. I used a fresh vial of WLP001 and followed instructions in the box. I caramelized the extract but it still tasted like beer. It was about 2x as dark as it should have been and believe it or not I could still taste and smell hops.

If I made it again I would definitely dry hop with 2oz of Cascade just to give it that extra burst of aroma.

I think I will give it 4 weeks secondary, just because I like what I've read about secondary and it makes me feel good. I don't use secondary for every batch, but if the instructions call for it, I practice my patience by waiting the maximum amount.

Dry hopping with 2 ounces seems excessive. I've thought so far that 1 extra pound of Light DME at the last 20 minutes would help the body and the alcohol content, and dry hopping with 1 oz. of something would help the aroma and flavor a little bit.

I don't want to make this a super hoppy beer. I want it to be strong, yet balanced.

Thanks for the feedback so far though, i'm brewing it in 3 and 1/2 weeks and it's getting my gears turning.

4 weeks secondary is much too long for this beer IMHO. I put mine in secondary for a week and it was perfectly clear (other than the chill haze). 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary max even if dry hopping. Three weeks primary would be better yet. Less work and chance for infection/oxidation. If you can cold crash then a secondary is totally unnecessary for clearing purposes.

That being said, it's your beer and your time. If you're freeing up a vessel for another batch then absolutely use the secondary.... The more beer the better:-)

I brewed this without any modification and it was just ok. It was nothing like Summit EPA. To be truthful i started out brewing Midwest supplies kits and really liked most of them but I thought I would try 3 of Northern Brewers just to check them out. Bascially all three kits were mediocre at best so I would definitely recommend modifying them because they just arent that great by themselves. Of course I think you could probably doctor up any kit that you buy. I don't think any of them give you enough hops.

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This might be the beer talking....but I really love beer!

I am just finishing off the last bottle of this as I type. I actually reviewed this beer on NB's website. I added a pound of DME and dry hopped with an ounce of Centennial and Cascade. It is good. However, I put too much priming sugar in. I had some siphoning issues as well, and ended up getting oxygen in the beer. I lost about a gallon of beer, so I added 4 ounces of corn sugar to prime. It was too much.

I still like the beer, but I have to open a bottle and let it sit for a little bit until much of the gas has released. Then it is really good. The over carbonation really messes with the taste.

Go for it. But I would refer to a chart to see exactly how much priming sugar you should add.

doing some calculating has shown me that i will have to add an extra 1oz of cascade (roughly 5.75% AA) to the bittering addition to get it to around 45 IBUs- which is where summit is at. Now, If I add another pound of Light DME to the boil, that will increase my gravity, and lower my IBU. I couldn't find a calculator to help me figure out what that change will be. Also, I'm only guessing that the 1oz of cascade at the last 1 minute of the boil will not come through the way they intend if I add this extra pound of DME, so dry hopping will help. I'm thinking two weeks primary, two weeks secondary (left alone), and two weeks secondary (dry hopped), then bottle. Maybe 1 or 2 ounces of cascade? I feel like I should stick with cascade so the hop character is consistent. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated.

doing some calculating has shown me that i will have to add an extra 1oz of cascade (roughly 5.75% AA) to the bittering addition to get it to around 45 IBUs- which is where summit is at. Now, If I add another pound of Light DME to the boil, that will increase my gravity, and lower my IBU. I couldn't find a calculator to help me figure out what that change will be. Also, I'm only guessing that the 1oz of cascade at the last 1 minute of the boil will not come through the way they intend if I add this extra pound of DME, so dry hopping will help. I'm thinking two weeks primary, two weeks secondary (left alone), and two weeks secondary (dry hopped), then bottle. Maybe 1 or 2 ounces of cascade? I feel like I should stick with cascade so the hop character is consistent. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated.

If you are going for Summit EPA this recipe will get you alot closer. First Summit EPA bitters with Horizon hops and flavors with Cascade and aroma with Cascade and fuggles. One thing you have to keep in mind too is that Summit EPA ferments this beer very dry. You do not have that luxurying extract so your beer will have a bit more body and not quite as high of alcohol but it will be a real good beer with alot of hop character. Vert sessionable.

I didnt ask what yeast you are using. I would recommend Wyeast 1056 with a 1 liter starter. You can also use Safeale US05 dry yeast.

If you are doing a partial boil I would recommend that you start you boil with 2-3 lbs of your liquid extract and then add the rest at 15 minutes. If you are doing a full boil just add it all at once.

Leave your beer in primary for 3 weeks. Then add the dryhops for a week. Then add your priming sugar and bottle for at least 2 weeks and you should be good to go. Let me know if you have any questions.

4 weeks way too long, I mean you could leave it there, but two, three weeks max. I've modified an AG version with a little more "extras" but keep the SG close just so I can have it kegged, forced carbed and drinkable in 3 weeks as my house ale.